Ever since I was young, I wanted to color the world. My life was a box of crayons, and the Earth was a coloring book. I saw the world as a muted-toned slate, and to me that remained unacceptable. I felt the world needed some sparkle, some shine, and I, a typical six-year-old, would be the very artist to take on that challenge.

I was then, and always will be, a dreamer. To me, a successful world could not remain grey. I questioned the world. Why was the stereotypical rose always red? Why were swans so commonly white? Did they have to be? That was when I held my Earth in my hand, and changed it. I created a sky that was vast and neon green, as a maroon sun shone brightly overhead. Orange birds cluttered the sky and waving crimson grass swayed in the breeze. My world was a vivid, multi-hued masterpiece to which none could compare. People often looked at my work with confusion, almost as if they had never thought of the sky as anything except light blue before, but this did not bother me. I liked my art and made a point to keep that vision with me to this day, for I know that as people grow older, they lose their world of colors.

My world has yet to fade, and as the years rapidly run by, I realize the task before me. I will share my vibrant world with whomever I may meet, and expose the world we blindly see as mere black and white. I have decided to proudly become a teacher. In the future, my students will become my canvas, and while I instill my Earth into each child, I will be able to see the rainbow in their eyes and the shine in their hearts.

As I pursue this dream, I will remember what I learned when I was six-years-old, creator of the multicolored planet. I hope my pupils will never let it go grey. To this day, my dogs are still red, my cats are still turquoise, my world is still in color- and I will be a teacher.~Hannah Pawlak, The College of New Jersey